[Avodah] Halachic Methodology

[Rich, Joel]

>From a Cross Currents Post:
 
"Should it surprise us when people operating within this mindset turn to
Torah and do the same? Sagi and Zohar claim to have found two sources in
the gemara, and turned them into two different shitos regarding
conversion requirements. Alas, say the authors, halachic thought jumped
ship in the late 19th century (motivated, of course, by waning rabbinic
authority just as it had to confront the dizzying new choices of
modernity) and opted for the more onerous set of rules.

Halachists, of course, do not approach text this way. Neither do ninth
graders with serious gemara background. When they see conflict between
sources, they generally endeavor to reduce the tension as much as
possible, sometimes by successfully harmonizing sources, and where that
is impossible, reducing the intellectual distance between the opposing
viewpoints as much as possible.

 

Does the chevra agree with this analysis of halachists approach?  Is
there a specific source for the approach?

 

KT
Joel Rich

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